


Your Hand In Mine

by botherd



Category: Bomb Girls
Genre: Episode Tag, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-05
Packaged: 2017-11-23 17:59:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/botherd/pseuds/botherd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Once Gladys has gone the small room somehow feels even more stifling, just Betty and Kate in close quarters with no one to act as a buffer.</em> Coda for 2.01, The Quickening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Hand In Mine

The hour is late when Gladys finally decides it's time to go back home and face her family. Betty was itching for her to leave, but once she's gone the small room somehow feels even more stifling, just Betty and Kate in close quarters with no one to act as a buffer. Now that they're alone, sitting facing each other on opposite sides of the bed, Betty doesn't have a clue what to say, and Kate has barely spoken a word all night.

"Are you all right?" Betty asks, just for the sake of saying something. It's a stupid question--given everything that had happened, the answer could truthfully only be _no_ \--but the silence that was so comfortable when Gladys was there is starting to grow oppressive.

Kate gives a faint half-smile, like she can't quite manage the full thing yet. Her voice is soft when she says, "I'll be okay. I'm just thinking about how strange it is that I don't have any family left, is all."

"Hey, family isn't blood. The people who stick by you, they're your family." Betty doesn't add what she really wants to say-- _I'm your family, right here, and I'll stick by you always_ \--because things are still delicate here, and she doesn't want to push too hard. But she thinks that Kate knows what she means, judging by how her smile grows a little wider.

"Thank you, Betty," Kate says quietly, and Betty glows with pride until the next thing comes out of Kate's mouth. "Is it true what you said earlier? About you having a boyfriend now?"

Betty looks up at the ceiling, because it's easier than looking at Kate's face. "I guess so. It's not exactly serious, but we've been out a time or two. You remember Ivan from the factory?"

"Of course. I didn't know him too well, but he seemed like a real nice guy."

"Yeah, he's swell." Probably most girls wouldn't say that with a sigh, but since when has Betty been like most girls?

"So--you like him?" Kate doesn't sound sceptical like Gladys; it's like she actually wants to believe, and that breaks Betty's heart into pieces all over again.

Instead of answering the question, Betty screws up her courage and decides to address the thing that neither of them have mentioned yet. Slowly and deliberately, like she's trying not to spook a horse, she says, "Listen, about what happened before you left."

Kate physically curls in on herself. "We don't have to talk about that."

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and it won't happen again. It was wrong." She should probably stop there, but there's part of her that feels like she really needs to sell it. "It was wrong, and I guess... I don't know. With all the boys being overseas, I guess I just got confused, but I have Ivan now. So it won't happen again."

She hates every damn second of the lie, but she can't risk scaring Kate off again, not after what happened last time. With her father gone Kate may be safe now, but there's always the danger that she'll leave again and Betty can't risk it, not after she just got her back. That would be too cruel.

Betty chances a glance at Kate to see if her excuses have been swallowed, and Kate looks back at her with soft, sad eyes.

"Betty, you have a picture of me by your mirror," she says gently. "I know I reacted badly before when you... well, I was surprised, and I still don't really understand, but I want to try. The only thing I can't handle is you lying to me."

Truth be told, Betty doesn't understand it either. She doesn't understand why she made different from everyone else, why she was singled out for this life of loneliness. "I just want us to go back to how we were. I was stupid, wanting more."

"I think you were brave."

The words take Betty by surprise. "You do?"

Kate ducks her head, avoiding Betty's gaze, but she nods faintly. "All I've thought about since I left is you. I used to pray every night that you'd find me." She glances up at Betty then, her expression full of fear and hope all at once.

"What are you saying, Kate?" Betty didn't want to wish too hard in case in didn't come true--she's not sure there are any pieces of her heart left to break--but she holds her breath as she waits for the answer.

"I don't think I know exactly." Kate scoots along the bed until she's resting against the headboard next to Betty, the gentle contact coming with the familiar frisson of excitement and fear. Up close Betty can see the slight flush on Kate's cheeks and for the first time she wonders if maybe she's not the only one feeling like that.

Kate takes Betty's hand, softly stroking for a moment before she raises it to her lips and kisses Betty's palm. "I don't understand what any of this means. All I know is, right now, the only place I want to be is here, with you."


End file.
